Finding Hope
by XxXxFading DreamxXxX
Summary: Naruto and Sakura find Sasuke but can they bring him back? the pain of betrayal hurts more than the wounds from the villagers. How will Naruto react when things go wrong... again. NaruHina - sort of. bad title, gomenasai!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and i probably never will. But i will become Hokage! Dattebayo!! Believe it!! kami i hate the english version...

This is something i wrote a while ago and only just started rewritting.

Please review... Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The search for hope

"Tsunade-Baa-chan"

"What Naruto" a certain extremely annoyed Hokage replied.

"Sasuke-teme's been spotted. Hasn't he." He wasn't grinning, in fact his face had no emotion and his body was still he normally bounces even when standing still but not now, he was being serious as only the news of Sasuke and Akatsuki could make him. But wait…

How the hell did Naruto know this? It's top-secret information that was supposed to have been kept away from those close to Sasuke and only a few Anbu and one or two of the Jounin knew about it. No one close to the apprentice of that damn Hebi was meant to know. ESPECIALLY Naruto.

Crash!

"Tsunade-sama is it true? Has he really been seen?" She stood there in the doorway; the shock was not as bad this time. Hang on…

Damn it!! Sakura had found out too. And had it really been necessary for her to break the door?

"Naruto, how did you find out?" Tsunade glared at the apprentice of the worlds worst Sukebei.

"uh well you see…" A grin hid the fact that he was terrified, an angry Tsunade was very, VERY scary.

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Now Tsunade was pissed. Naruto had been spying on her and she hadn't even noticed!

Naruto, after being flung through the window and having to walk back towards the wrath of a very pissed Tsunade, had decided to not ask to go and get back his team-mate and first friend who also happened to have tried to kill him the last what… three or four times they had met?

Instead he left the pleasure to Sakura.

"No!"

"Please Tsunade-sama."

"I cannot allow it Sakura."

"… Baa-chan… Please… Hokage-sama" the first word had been whispered but the last was heard by the other two Kunoichi who both stopped mid argument to stare at the normally energetic Ninja who was staring imploringly at the woman who was the closest thing he had to a mother.

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"… are you ready?"

With a nod the two Ninja left Konoha without a backward glance.

Behind them, hidden in the shadows of Konoha's gate, a slight figure watched them leave with pale violet eyes filled with tears. She dreaded the moment when the Hokage would find out. She hoped that the two would be safe. Poor Kakashi-san, Tsunade was going to skin him alive when she found out that the two were missing. Especially when the two Anbu she had trailing them turned up at the hospital with a concussion thanks to Naruto's prankster abilities.

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"Sakura-chan, when will we get there?"

The pink haired kunoichi thought about this for a minute and then replied "three days."

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Snake like eyes glared into his own. "Sasuke-kun, I thought I told you not to leave here without myself or Kabuto by your side."

"hn…"

The snake-like S-rank exiled Nin left the room.

"Sasuke-sama, Orochimaru-sama is only keeping you safe" glasses flashed in the candlelight and the medic left as he felt the killer-intent that was seeping off of the teen.

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"There it is"

Another nod was the reply

'_We have to get in there, before we lose him again_.' Naruto sped up, as did Sakura a second later.

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They were nearly there. So close to their lost team-mate.

It had been so long so many years had passed since he had left Konoha. Left her.

They must be careful this time with Orochimaru and Kabuto here and without Sai, Yamato or Kakashi they were in an extremely bad position they must somehow get Sasuke out of there without anyone noticing.

Plus Sasuke would then cause problems and they would end up fighting but this time Sasuke would come back. Or Naruto and she would be dead.

"Naruto stop we need to think of a plan."

" 'Kay, what about…

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"Ready"

"Hai"

"Henge"

Naruto and Sakura turned into two sound Nin's. They both had their faces almost entirely covered in bandages so that they would be less recognizable.

They ran towards the entrance and stopped just outside the door of Orochimaru's latest lair.

They looked once at each other and then opened the door and headed down towards their misguided friend.

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"How long have they been gone?" an extremely pissed Tsunade yelled at the unlucky sensei of the two missing Nin who just happened to be two of her precious people.

"…two days perhaps less." Being expressionless was difficult when an angry Hokage was leaning over you but with the aid of his mask Kakashi mabaged to look only slightly nervous.

They could not have gotten as far as Orochimaru yet, Tsunade sighed in relief it took at least three days to get there and then they would have to think of how to get Sasuke out without being killed by Sound-nin so she still had time to go and save her precious people.

"Kakashi get a team ready. You must leave as soon as possible they will go to Orochimaru he is located at…"

He was gone in under an hour along with Jiraiya, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru and Hinata.

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"Be careful" he whispered before turning in the opposite direction. He understood the need to split up so that they could search faster but he still worried about her. That didn't mean he liked it. Anything could happen down here. He wanted her to stay safe.

He paused at another dead end, and was forced to retrace his steps. They had been down here for about an hour, he hoped Sakura was all right, so far there had been almost no traps and this worried him. Up ahead he saw someone going through a door. Before they were fully out of view Naruto finally saw the one person he was looking for.

Disguising his voice he called out "Sasuke-sama an important message has arrived for you from Orochimaru-sama."

"Hn," he got the same damn reply he had always gotten from Sasuke.

"You are to go and get rid of some guests who have been wandering around"

"Hn," again the same damn reply. But at least Sasuke had turned and seemed to be heading towards an exit. At least he thought it was an exit.

Now all Naruto had to do was contact Sakura and then…Sasuke's cold voice interrupted his thoughts, "She is being held in the lower dungeon. Kabuto is with her. You had better hurry up and get down to her. She's been they're for about twenty minutes already, Dobe."

Naruto's henge disappeared as he heard those cold words "Sasuke, how?"

"How did I find out? The instant that weakling saw me she called out. She didn't even disguise her voice." He spoke with no emotion in his usual cold and monotonous voice.

"Sakura-chan is not a weakling. After you left she trained every day waiting for her chance to bring you back home" Naruto snarled at Sasuke, who he had once thought of as a brother.

"No, she is still a weakling… and so are you" This said he turned and signalled for the Sound Nin to get Naruto. He was surrounded.

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"Sakura-san why don't you give up you cannot defeat me"

'_Don't underestimate me you bastard I'm not the same as I was at the Chuunin exams. Shannaro!!' _Sakura's rage was starting to show in her attacks she wanted this piece of trash dead and yet he still underestimated her after she had manage to numb his left arm and lung.

"Sakura-san it is pointless you are too weak." Another barrage of kunai all aimed at Kabuto one nicked his left arm the rest barely missing him. "See"

Another barrage of kunai this time three of them hit Kabuto. Caught by surprise he stumbled breaking his defence for a second. Sakura took her chance and was holding Kabuto up by the neck he was slowly going purple. Sakura pulled one of the poisoned kunai out of his thigh and looking into Kabuto's eyes plunged the kunai deep into Kabuto's heart.

Drenched in blood Sakura dropped the lifeless body onto the ground and set out in search of Naruto and Sasuke.

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'_Damn it we still haven't caught up to them. How could they have moved so fast?_' Kakashi was amazed at how his two pupils had grown. It had been nearly six years since Sasuke had left and they were both equal to him in speed and power. It was not possible for them to have gone faster than his dogs or Akamaru. So how far had they gone, were they already inside Orochimaru's lair? '_Where are you?_' he wondered, worried for his two students.

"Kakashi-sensei"

"Hm" Kakashi was dragged away from his thoughts by the timid voice.

"We are nearing Orochimaru's base"

'_I only hope we aren't late. Not this time._' The image of a young Naruto lying beside the water at the Valley of the end came unbidden to his mind. This time he knew if they were late Sasuke would have obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Neji, Hinata have a look around for them."

"Byakugan" veins grew around their pale eyes.

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At least ten Sound ninja had surrounded Naruto as soon as Sasuke signalled. Where had they all come from so quickly? Sasuke had left a while ago and three of the Sound Nin were lying on the ground they didn't appear to be breathing. Another four were seriously injured and unable to fight anymore. But they were soon replaced by more who appeared out of no-where.

He had sustained several injuries some of which were quite severe to normal ninja. A large gash on his side refused to stop bleeding even with the Kyuubi healing him as fast as possible. The Sound-Nin were strong even so Naruto was stronger. If only his damn arm wasn't so badly broken that he could not use Jutsu.

Another sound Nin fell and did not rise, the rest stepped past their fallen comrade and kept fighting.

Naruto was quickly becoming tired he was sustaining more and more injuries… another of the Nin fell. It was three on one now and they were starting to look apprehensive. How can one ninja defeat so many of Orochimaru's top ninja? There must have been about twenty bodies that weren't moving and then there were those who were injured and had left via a side door. The only other person capable of this was Sasuke-sama and he was nearly as strong as Orochimaru-Sama and just as scary. The final Nin fell blood pouring from his body onto the already stained floor.

Slowly Naruto moved away from the dead and dying ninja towards where Sasuke had left the corridor after a few metres he slumped against the wall using it to support himself. He had been unprepared for the fight and so he had sustained the huge gash on his side early on soon followed by his broken arm. He had to find Sakura. Using the wall to support himself he slowly moved downwards in the direction he believed the dungeons to be.

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"I cannot find them." Hinata sounded worried.

"Nor I." Neji's normally calm exterior showed just how grave the situation was by showing a slight amount of concern.

Both of the Byakugan users had been searching for a while in silence

"Then we must fear that they are already inside. Shikamaru, how can we get in there without being noticed?" Shikamaru replied by crouching and moving his hands into his thinking stance.

A million thoughts passed through Shikamaru's head most were useless but one stood out. This one may just work.

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"S-Sakura-chan, is that you?"

"No, it isn't. Who are you and what are you doing here?" A female stood above him glaring down at him, focusing his one working eye he saw his mistake.

"Of course, you don't look like Sakura-chan at all. She would never dress like a slut." Naruto slid down the wall a little, his left eye was killing him he couldn't see anything with it. The Kyuubi was not able to heal the gash at his side the snake that had caused it must have had poison in its fangs, the Fox hadn't even tried to fix his eye yet but it would be a while before as Kyuubi had mentioned how hard it was for him to mend such things.

"Who are you? What are you doing?" the woman asked more forcefully.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and as you can see I'm injured and bloody exhausted." Naruto's sad attempt at a joke did not seem to have an affect although he now realised that she had been surprised when she heard his name.

"How can you be alive I saw Sasuke-kun order them to kill you. Those were some of our strongest nin." She said this with a glance over at the twenty or more corpses that littered the hall a few metres away.

When he didn't reply she reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his all black Jumpsuit top. She leaked out a large amount of killer intent, compared to kyuubi's it was nothing and so Naruto was able to easily ignore it. She started to block off his oxygen supply and then punched him in the gut, compared to Sakura that was hardly painful even if it did hit a cracked rib and two bruised ones.

"Step away from Naruto-kun" Sakura's voice was filled with anger. How could somebody, let alone a person her age, look so slutty?

She backed away from Naruto and instead turned to glare at Sakura, hatred written on all of her features. "You must be Sakura, weren't you fighting Kabuto?"

"He's dead. Leave before you are as well." The woman backed away not believing that this pink haired kunoichi could have killed a bug let alone Kabuto.

Sakura walked forward and the woman fled. "Naruto what happened to you?" Sakura was shocked by how battered he looked.

Naruto coughed his cracked ribs flared with pain and slid down the rest of the way to the floor Sakura knelt down beside him and hastily started to heal him first his arm then his ribs lastly she started to work on the deep gash on his side. The gash would not close. She used every technique she knew but nothing worked. She had to get help. She had to get him to a hospital, to Konoha, to Tsunade. Before he bled to death.

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Kakashi was ready his team was waiting for the signal just as he was about to give it Hinata and Neji sensed something and hurriedly notified the others that they had seen Sakura's chakra and that another chakra was with her and though this other chakra was weak… they were both sure that it was Naruto.

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"Naruto hang on I'll get you to Tsunade soon" Sakura whispered to the ninja on her back. He had fainted when she had lifted him as the pain had swamped over him. His face was now a deathly pale green. She would have to hurry back to get help or Naruto would die.

She opened the doors in front of her that led, hopefully, to the outside world only to find that seven Sound Nin were staring at her in surprise. With a quick look at Naruto, Sakura realised that she could not fight her way past without causing Naruto more pain and wasting the little time he had left.

Before she could decide what to do the seven Nin in front of her all turned into ninja of Konoha including Kakashi and Jiraiya.

"S-Sakura-san what has happened to N-Naruto-kun" She had hardly noticed Hinata she had been so relieved to see the others that had come to help.

"We have to hurry he's seriously injured I don't know what happened to him but this gash on his side won't heal we have to get to Tsunade-sama only she can help" Sakura started to run as fast as she could the others followed as they leaped from branch to branch as fast as they could stopping only to check on Naruto to see that he was steadily becoming worse. He had lost a lot of blood.

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"Damn fox why can't you heal me?" For about the millionth time Naruto asked the Kitsune this question.

"…"

"Answer me damn you!!"

"I don't know why it isn't working, that snake must have been venomous."

"if I die you die as well"

"**Thankyou for pointing that out, kit. Now get lost before your hindrance kills us both."**

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The gates were up ahead Naruto had been in a fever for almost a whole day now. It had been two days since he had received his wounds and his condition was now critical.

"Sakura?" the ninja at the gates looked confused they had not seen her leave and Tsunade had not mentioned that she had left she guessed by the looks on their faces. "N-Naruto?!" It was Hinata who was carrying him at the moment she had hardly left his side. Both kunoichi ran straight to the hospital as the others ran to get Tsunade from her office.

"Hold on Naruto please we are so close." Hinata was whispering to her lifelong crush.

They were finally inside the hospital as they reached the doorway they heard a yell that seemed to have come from the Hokage's office they hoped Tsunade would come quickly.

Within a minute of that thought Tsunade came barging up to the door they had just passed through and had already grabbed Naruto from Hinata and carried him to an operating theatre.

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Four hours later Tsunade came out looking grim. Hinata nearly burst into tears when she saw her. Sakura stared intently at the Hokage's face. Kakashi's normally lazy expression was stiff and anxious. Jiraiya was staring out of the window as though he wished he were anywhere but in that room.

Tsunade's voice broke the silence "He's still in a critical condition but he should live."

Everyone in the room sighed in relief. Hinata really did burst into tears and Sakura went over to comfort her.

"Although he will not be able to move his left arm" although, she added silently, he may be able to with the help of the Kyuubi.

"Also we discovered that he will not be able to see out of his left eye. Permanently." Please let the Kyuubi be able to heal that.

"Sakura I will need to talk to you, be in my office in about an hour." Tsunade turned around and walked back into the room where her latest patient lay he was no longer feverish but he was still pale but thankfully he wasn't still that green colour that meant he was still poisoned.

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Slowly he opened his eyes. Well eye, one of his eyes seemed to be severely bandaged. He looked around the room and saw three people all asleep, looking out of the window he saw that it was either dawn or dusk after five minutes he concluded that it was dawn. Looking to his left he saw Sakura with her head beside his left arm he went to nudge her with his arm but nothing happened. He tried again. Still it did not move. He moved his right arm and it went straight up into the air he tried again with his left…

His movement seemed to have woken the girl on his right her pale violet eyes bleary with sleep looked into his own eye. "Naruto-kun?" His arm came down heavily by his side waking Sakura who in turn woke Kakashi who had fallen asleep on a chair by the window.

"Sakura what happened the last thing I remember was hearing you ask me if I could walk. How did we get back here and why are we back here what about Sasuke? And why are we in the hospital?"

"N-Naruto-kun you have been in hospital for nearly a week, you nearly died. We have to wait for Hokage-sama to tell you about the extent of your wounds. We were all really worried." Naruto stared in shock at the Hyuuga amazed that she had said so much to him and only stuttered once

"After you collapsed when you tried to walk I carried you out and when I got outside I found Kakashi, Jiraiya, Hinata, Neji, Lee, Kiba and Akamaru. After half a day of running you began to get feverish we got here as fast as we could which was in two day's we came straight here and Tsunade-sama treated you."

Kakashi stood up and said that he would go tell Tsunade that Naruto was awake and bring her here when he was sure she would not kill Naruto for leaving like that. The two girls sat watching Naruto carefully his one good eye was still a bit dull and he was still a bit pale but he had his usual happy look even if it was more tired than usual.

Naruto fell asleep again and so did Sakura but Hinata sat watching the man she loved.

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End of chapter one…

Chapter two may take a while to come out so sorry in advance

Please read and review, be nice this is my first non-oneshot.

Some translations:

Obaa Granny

Hebi Snake

Chikusyou damn

Shimatta Shit

Kuso shit/crap

Demo But

Kami God

Bakemono Demon


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: unfortunately I do no own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters

Chapter 2

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"Naruto, the extent of your wounds was very severe. I need to know how you got them.

Flashback

Now all Naruto had to do was contact Sakura and then…Sasuke's cold voice interrupted his thoughts, "She is being held in the lower dungeon. Kabuto is with her. You had better hurry up and get down to her. She's been there for about twenty minutes already, Dobe."

_Naruto's henge disappeared as he heard those cold words "Teme, how?"_

"_How did I find out? The instant that weakling saw me she called out. She didn't even disguise her voice." He spoke with no emotion in his usual cold and monotonous voice._

"_Sakura-chan is not a weakling. After you left she trained every day waiting for her chance to bring you back home" Naruto snarled at Sasuke, who he had once thought of as a brother._

"_No, she is still a weakling… and so are you" This said he turned and signalled for the Sound Nin to get Naruto. He was surrounded._

_Instantly about ten Sound Nin surrounded him and each started to attack not aiming to kill, yet. After the first one fell the battle became much more serious one of the older Nin started to make a series of hand signs the others blocked him from view the next thing he knew a large snake had attacked him on his left side, he saw blood. His blood. The pain was excruciating his chest heaved and more and more blood fell from his side. The wound did not stop bleeding as most of his wounds did._

_He had let his guard down in his pain, someone grabbed his arm and squeezed the bone shattered some of the shards pierced his flesh he would not be able to keep on using jutsu. He used any weapon that he could using his good arm soon there were three then four, five, six, nine, fifteen, seven more arrived, finally the last one fell. He walked towards the area he thought the dungeons were only to collapse against the wall._

End flashback

He told them what had happened anger and hurt covered his features. Sasuke his team-mate and rival also his best friend and the person he loved as a brother had nearly killed him. Again.

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"Naruto, even after all that he has done to you… why did you disobey my orders and go after him?" He looked up slightly amazed the Hokage was… pleading with him.

"Because he is my team-mate and I promised Sakura-chan that I would bring him back. Also because he was like a brother to me." This last was said quietly as if he was ashamed of his feelings, of the fact that he had feelings.

Tsunade sighed. At this rate if they didn't bring Sasuke back soon Naruto would get himself killed.

"Anyway Baa-Chan, it's my turn to ask the questions. Why can't I move my arm and how bad is my eye?"

"Naruto even though your arm's bones were fixed the main vain that runs through your arm was damaged so severely from the snakes venom that it could not be healed I had no choice but to seal the venom inside your left arm so that it would not spread to the rest of your body if you have a look there is a seal at the top of your arm… This means that you will not be able to use your arm again. I'm sorry."

Naruto's face was hidden by his hair but when he next looked up he seemed resigned to the fact. "What about my eye" he smiled before he added, "It's giving me a killer of a migraine." Tsunade did not seem pleased with this news.

"You will probably never be able to see out of your eye again."

Again Naruto met this news calmly. "Um Tsunade-Baa-Chan can I speak to you alone." He said looking around at the others who immediately left the room.

As soon as the door was closed he asked, "Do you think Kyuubi will be able to heal me?"

"I don't know." Tsunade saw with shock that Naruto was starting to cry. Her mothering nature kicked in and she walked up to him holding him tightly the only way she could think of to show her love. He may be the most annoying person she had met but she loved him as any mother would love a son.

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"Wow, am I glad to be able to leave." He was the same smiling boy he had always been only now his arm was in a sling and he wore his forehead protector like Kakashi to hide his injured eye.

"First stop Ichiraku's ramen stall." Sakura, Hinata and Kiba with Akamaru in tow followed as Naruto went to eat his first proper meal in two weeks. They sat at Ichiraku's for the whole day talking and laughing about missions as if Naruto's injuries had never occurred. Naruto breaking his record of 12 bowls in one sitting by five.

Sakura left with Kiba and Akamaru. Naruto and Hinata stayed for a little longer neither wanting to go home, to be alone.

"N-Naruto-kun today was fun wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was."

It was now quite dark and Naruto was starting to feel tired. "Hinata-san would you like me to walk you home?"

"Thank you Naruto kun"

"Where do you live anyway I've never been to the Hyuuga estate."

"Oh ahh-"

"Hey Fox kid what are you doing with your girlfriend?" a rough and angry voice interrupted Hinata.

Beside her Hinata felt Naruto stiffen and slowly he turned towards the voice as he did so she heard him murmur, "Not again not now"

She also turned towards the rough voice; she saw behind them about four men all were wearing masks.

"What are you doing up so late demon. If you don't want your girlfriend hurt you better send her away. We heard that you can't fight is that right?" Naruto shuddered slightly.

"Hinata when I tell you to leave go home, I don't want you to get hurt." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"No Naruto-kun I'll stay with you." He nodded in response his eye on the men in front of them.

"Hey you, Hyuuga, if you don't get away from the demon your clinging to we'll have to hurt you as well" the short one on the right sneered, you could hear it in his voice.

"Stay away from Naruto-kun." A kunai whizzed passed Naruto barely missing his whiskered face.

"Hinata if possible don't get involved, I don't want you to be hurt because of me." He gave her another worried glance before turning back to the men in front of them.

"Don't worry about me Naruto-kun I won't let them hurt either of us." There was a determined shine in Hinata's pale eyes.

"Enough time you had your chance to run girl now you won't be able to get away. Your boyfriend here is going to pay for what he did to our village" The man in front glared at Naruto the promise of pain in his words and cold demeanour.

"Naruto-kun… what are they talking about?" _Hinata please don't hate me for this, it is only a burden, I am not the demon please understand._

"I'll tell you later." Naruto's eye had not left the group. Where had the kunai come from?

"What?! Your girlfriend doesn't know what you are? So that's why she didn't leave when we told her to" his laugh was quiet but it held venom and hate in it's every syllable. It seemed that he had forgotten about the law that stopped all of his friends and anyone younger from knowing of the Kyuubi.

Hinata turned to glare at the man as he continued to laugh. As he calmed down he started to speak Naruto stepped away from her his eye pleading his face showing how scared he was and all of the emotions that looked so strange on Naruto's face that was only ever seen with joy. As the man neared the end of the tale Hinata turned to stare at Naruto all of the things he saw on her face were the things that had always scared him. Hate, fear, pain… sadness. She hated him, she feared him, she was just like everyone else. He watched as she turned away not able to look at him and fled down the street.

Why was this what always happened to him those he cared about… they left him or hated him, they all wanted him dead. _It's just like when Sasuke left_. He truly was a monster.

The four men were laughing, they had enjoyed ruining his life and now the pain would come this pain was easier to deal with though, it was the look on Hinata's face that haunted him with each cut, with each solid blow it was of her turning and running.

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It had been Kakashi who had found him, lying in an alley near the ramen stand that he loved. He had so many broken bones, he was still conscious then. Hinata had gone to Kakashi to tell him what happened she didn't know what to do. When he was brought in I was on duty Kakashi just walked in with him and took him to a room calling my name as he went.

He had four broken ribs and one had punctured his lung, he was only alive thanks to Kyuubi. I've never seen him so quiet. He just lay there he wouldn't even tell me how he had gotten so injured, it was only when he had finally been mostly healed that he fell asleep. He just stared out of the window, even when I reset his leg from the angle that it was after it was broken, he didn't flinch or anything, even the most experienced of Shinobi mutter in pain when their hurt as badly as he was.

When Tsunade turned up things only got worse he wouldn't look at us when she tried to get him to speak he closed his eye and refused to open it again apart from that he didn't move not even when she hugged him. I think they finally did what I, what we had all thought was impossible they had finally defeated the invincible Naruto, the only way he could be defeated by having one of his friends leave him, by hurting one of his friends because of him, by being hurt by someone he held close.

After Sasuke left he kept trying to bring him back, with Hinata he didn't know how. If only he knew that she had cried for days because of what was done to him by the village, how his whole life he had been alone, maybe then he wouldn't have left. He wouldn't have felt he was unloved like he was a demon. Kakashi, Jiraiya and I followed him, we caught up too, but what we found wasn't Naruto.

Naruto could never have looked so forlorn so… betrayed and just scared, scared of himself. When he spoke it was in a voice void of emotion but his features were telling us a different story. He said to not follow him that he was a monster a demon, everything that he had ever been called by the villagers. He said that he only ever hurt those that meant something to him and so he was leaving. He cried the whole time.

We tried to convince him otherwise, Kami we tried but he wouldn't believe us we followed him to the edge of Suna, always just behind him, he always had been fast but now it was just amazing, it pushed me to my limit and each time I fell behind I would think about the Naruto that I knew and loved, the one who was strong and always smiling who would pull pranks on Jiraiya and Kakashi when they annoyed him. The Naruto who would do anything to save a friend.

Once out in the desert we lost him in a sand storm, we had to take shelter inside of Gamabunta's stomach after it got too bad. We were worried about Naruto; we hoped that he would be safe during the storm. When it ended we followed his trail as best as we could but it was taken away by the storm, it was only with Pakkun's help that we were able to find him again, this time we were half a day behind and were about to drop with exhaustion. We lost his trail again after three day's of wandering in among the sand dunes.

We ended up having to go to Suna's hidden village. We booked a place to stay and fell asleep almost straightaway, I was so tired that I didn't even complain about sharing a room with the two most perverted men that I have ever met. When we woke nearly a day later we went to the Kazekage, Gaara, since Naruto counted him as a friend and recounted our tale.

When we had finished Gaara just sat there his anger and worry plain to see. He wanted to help Naruto but he also knew that Naruto would resent him for it. We stayed at the village for two days before heading back into the desert this time with a guide, Temari. We searched for two weeks only catching faint scents of him that were sometimes a day apart.

We didn't give up hope but our food and water supplies were low and so with heavy hearts we went back to the village, only to be greeted with the news that Konoha was about to be attacked by both the Rock and Mist and they were in need of Suna's support, we had to go back home without Naruto.

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The worst thing was the sight of the villagers when we got back, we were about to be attacked and they were _celebrating_ over the fact that Naruto had left. It made me feel worse than ever. I didn't even go back to doing my 'research' but with Tsunade so upset I don't think that would have been safe anyway.

With the impending war our thoughts turned away from our troubled blonde.

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I had to be alone. They had always let me believe that I was normal, like them, a Shinobi who fought for his or her village who would die for their village and friends. But I was never like them. Tsunade-Baa-Chan was respected by everyone, Ero-Sennin was too, Kakashi-sensei was a respected and well treated Shinobi of Konoha, Sakura was the Godaime's apprentice and had many friends, Kiba, Shino, Chouji, Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata they were all from respected clans. Lee was respected for his Taijutsu, Tenten for her skill with weapons. Even Sasuke was still respected because he was one of the last of such a 'noble' clan.

Where had that left me? An orphan brat who was the container of the Kyuubi, the dead last at the Academy, the drop-out, the looser, the one who was blamed for the death of so many Shinobi because the Kyuubi no Kitsune had been sealed inside of him. I was… hated by the very thing I loved the most, my village. My dream, an impossible task for someone like me. A bakemono.

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As the enemy kept on coming the Konoha-nin accompanied by many of the Suna-nin all began to wonder when this war would end. When the deaths would stop.

Sakura was tired right to the bone, the further that this fight went the more that were injured, they would all look at her pleading needing her to heal those who were half dead. It was her they turned to she was the Godaime's apprentice after all. What did it matter that her training was still incomplete, what did it matter that half the people were already too far gone, she was a medic, she would heal them.

Already she had seen the bodies of her friends some who were even now dying from wounds that she was unable to heal, Kiba had died three day's ago, Akamaru was mourning and yet he still fought along with the other Inuzuka's.

Tenten had been injured and she may never be able to use her left arm again, but she was right now out fighting. Ino too had been wounded she was still unable to walk but would be fighting again soon.

Even with all the death and destruction around her she found it hard not to think of Naruto, and how she had last seen him.

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He had travelled far since he had left Konoha. He was now at the border of an empty province, he faced a large valley with a small stream passing through the middle. A few plants hugged the water's sides, they appeared to be no higher than his waist. Calmly he walked down the side of the cliff that he had stood upon, walking towards a patch of reeds where he would be able to hide quickly if needed.

Once he reached the side of the stream, he walked into the waters, at its highest point it reached his thigh. Before he was able to take a drink of the water he sensed a presence approaching. Moving fast he crouched among the reeds and hid his presence waiting for the person to pass him.

It was a young girl. She looked familiar in a way, she would have been seven at most.

Her hair was dark and roughly cut at about mid back; it would have been blonde in colour if not for all the dirt. Her clothes were ragged and when her face turned towards him he saw that she also had bright blue eyes. Her cheek was bruised and when he looked more carefully she limped, her right leg was injured.

Suddenly she stopped and looked back at the patch of reeds she had just passed, feeling… something. She had a feeling someone was there. Like she always did when people tried to hide from her.

She saw a few of the reeds moving, thinking that it was just a bird she decided to move on… until she saw a vibrant blue eye watching her. Walking out into the reeds she walked near the person, stopping a few metres away from them.

The figure stood to show her a man, his arm was in a sling and he wore a piece of metal over one of his eye's, his hair was yellow and his pants were orange, he held a black jumpsuit top in his hand.

He smiled at her, in a way that was very different to what she was used to, he smiled at her as if she was a, a person. Unlike back at the village where they treated her as worse than dirt. She could see it in his eye he knew what it was like, the loneliness.

She felt all these emotions and that was without any words! What would happen if he spoke? What should she say back? Would he be able to… No. He would not do that.

"Gomenasai. For scaring you, I mean."

He was actually polite to her! She bowed but did not reply, it was always worse if she did.

As he moved closer to her she saw some strange marks on his cheek. He reached out a hand towards her and out of habit she flinched away. As she did though his smile was replaced with a grimace that was quickly hidden behind neutral features

"What is your name?" He asked gently enough, but she was unsure of how to answer, she didn't have a name how could she?

"…" She whispered quietly hoping that he would not ask again.

"Gomen, I didn't hear you."

"They call me Dorei."

He was silent staring down at the small girl that was so similar to his own childhood self whom he had smothered and hidden by the smiles and pranks, "… you look more like a Hana."

"…" She stared up into his tranquil blue eyes imploringly.

"Hana-san, I am… like you, I do not belong in my village for I was just a tool to them. Would you, would you like to, I mean, do you want to…"

"HAI!! Please Aniki, please take me with you." She burst into tears as he nodded his head a large fox like smile appearing on his face.

"My Kohana-chan" A soft smile adorned his face as he gazed down at his new little sister.

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So that's the end of chapter two

Gomenasai! Gomenasai! I didn't mean to kill Kiba! I swear I didn't mean to kill him but that's what happens in wars. What do you think of Hana? Naruto-kun has found a little sister, someone like him. She's so Kawai! Well in my imagination at least.

I haven't planned or even thought about the next chapter yet. Gomen. So I dunno when it will come out depends on if I get enough reviews or not. So if you want to know what happens to Naruto and Hana then review! I command you.

More translations:

Obaa Granny

Hebi Snake

Chikusyou damn

Shimatta Shit

Kuso shit/crap

Demo But

Kami God

Bakemono Demon

Gomenasai polite/formal sorry

Gomen informal sorry

Dorei slave

Hana flower

Kohana little flower


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